Best Salome?

[Sergeant Rock]

Scarpia, your post in the Wagner's Valhalla thread got me thinking about the 'ideal' Salome candidate.

Hmmm, who would I enjoy most seeing doing the 'Dance of the Seven Veils'?

I happen to think, Colombian beauty, Sofia Vergara of Modern Family would be right up there for me! 

Yes, I'd much rather see her dance than Natalie Portman...or Birgit Nilsson 

Sarge

[Brahmsian]

Yes, I'd much rather see her dance than Natalie Portman...or Birgit Nilsson 

Sarge

Well, I do think Natalie Portman is very beautiful.  Sofia though.....is off the charts gorgeous, and coupled with her accent.  Yow! 

[knight66]

Yes, I'd much rather see her dance than Natalie Portman...or Birgit Nilsson 

Sarge

Dunno what you mean; Big Birgit frotting a plastic wall, unforgetable!



Mike

[Superhorn]

   I have the Solti Frau,and I wouldn't call it mediocre at all.
     Runkel is as menacing as you could want as the nurse,and this role does not call for a conventionally beautiful voice anyway, and Domingo sings with a tonal beauty that you almost never get from the German tenors who sing this role. The rest of the cast is first rate, and Solti and the VPO are at the height of considerable Straussian powers.  I also have the DVD from Salzburg with a differerent cast, but also excellent.  I recommend both highly.
   The Solti Salome is also rightly considered a classic.
    The Behrens/Karajan Salome is somewhat more understated, but still has a lot going for it.

[Guido]

   I have the Solti Frau,and I wouldn't call it mediocre at all.
     Runkel is as menacing as you could want as the nurse,and this role does not call for a conventionally beautiful voice anyway, and Domingo sings with a tonal beauty that you almost never get from the German tenors who sing this role. The rest of the cast is first rate, and Solti and the VPO are at the height of considerable Straussian powers.  I also have the DVD from Salzburg with a differerent cast, but also excellent.  I recommend both highly.
   The Solti Salome is also rightly considered a classic.
    The Behrens/Karajan Salome is somewhat more understated, but still has a lot going for it.

Understated? It's difficult to imagine that adjective being dexcribed to any good performance of this piece! 

[Brahmsian]

My admiration for Nilsson knows no bounds. A tremendous talent, a unique voice, a force of nature....utterly mindboggling live (I only heard her once unfortunately). But the love is missing. I just don't love her voice, especially in Salome where I think Behrens is more sensitive to the text, Studer more beautifully sung, Caballé more girlish sounding, and Nielsen far more believable as a spoiled adolescent brat determined to get her way. Considering her vocal acting, Nielsen is my favorite Salome.

Sarge

I really enjoyed Maria Ewing's performance of Salome

[Sergeant Rock]

I really enjoyed Maria Ewing's performance of Salome

The only DVD version I've seen is the Malfitano/Dohnányi. I need to see Ewing....and Stratas.

Sarge

[Lethevich]

That second Malfitano is super, and surprisingly rarely mentioned compared to her first (I think) recording with Sinopoli - which admittedly I prefer by a hair. She's a great actress, and rarely has Salome seemed more unhinged by the end.

[AndyD.]

The only DVD version I've seen is the Malfitano/Dohnányi. I need to see Ewing....and Stratas.

Sarge

The Ewing is very good. The Stratas dvd is great, especially for a studio concocted version. Stratas sings exceptionally, and she definitely has some sex appeal. The Tanz, however, is pretty horrid.

[jhar26]

The only DVD version I've seen is the Malfitano/Dohnányi. I need to see Ewing....and Stratas.

Sarge

........and Karita Mattila.

[Sergeant Rock]

........and Karita Mattila.

Yeah, it's a pity her MET performance hasn't been released on DVD. Is there any chance it will be? For sheer eroticism, though, Francesca Patane is hard to beat: incredible body and, at least from a distance (and in crappy amateur youtube quality), very youthful looking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL1JNzJwS3Y&feature=related

I don't know if she can actually sing, but who cares? 



Sarge

[Scarpia]

Yeah, it's a pity her MET performance hasn't been released on DVD. Is there any chance it will be? For sheer eroticism, though, Francesca Patane is hard to beat: incredible body and, at least from a distance (and in crappy amateur youtube quality), very youthful looking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL1JNzJwS3Y&feature=related

I don't know if she can actually sing, but who cares? 



Sarge

The performance was broadcast live to movie theaters, and I thought it was released on DVD.  My memory playing tricks on me.

[DavidRoss]

Yeah, it's a pity her MET performance hasn't been released on DVD. Is there any chance it will be? For sheer eroticism, though, Francesca Patane is hard to beat: incredible body and, at least from a distance (and in crappy amateur youtube quality), very youthful looking:

Womanly rather than girlish (and in great shape!), but far more believable than the matronly sorts usually given this role!  Her "dancing," however, leaves much to be desired--what was that bizarre "robot" stuff about?

[Scarpia]

Nadja Michael is featured in two DVDs of Salome, which which this is the less freaky.

[knight66]

There was nothing even vaguely erotic about Mattela's Salome.

Mike

[johnshade]

SALOME: the opera that catapulted Hildegard Behrens to stardom

Strauss imagined Salome as "a sixteen-year old Isolde," to be played "as a chaste virgin, an Oriental princess, with but the simplest, most dignified gestures..."

The great maestro Herbert von Karajan was of like mind, and he found his Salome in Hildegard Behrens - to this day the opera stage's most riveting Salome. Their recording, Ms. Behrens' first, has been digitally remastered.

In the summer of 1977 at Salzburg, Behrens made her appearance in the title role of Salome with von Karajan conducting and achieved great success in the role, thus consolidating her international reputation. 

[knight66]

In terms of sound, Caballe is hard to beat. And the entire performance under Leinsdorf is a winner. He has much more grip on it than in some Strauss exerpts he made with Leontine Price.

Sinopoli's set is my outright favourite, his ultra interventionalist push/pull on tempo works superbly here. Thecast is excellent.

Mike

[Guido]

In the end, all that time ago I got the Behrens Karajan which I like very much, and have listened to quite often. However, I just got the Studer/Sinopoli which is a revelation! Such beautiful singing, Studer so believable as a young woman (its surely oxymoronic to have a hochdramatischer sopran who sounds like a 16 hear old!), and it's quite an uncoventional look at the score, but such detail is revealed. Terfel is great as Jochanaan too. Easily my favourite Salome that I've heard now. Highly recommended.

[bhodges]

Glad to hear another good word about the Studer, which I haven't yet heard.  It is the favorite Salome of an editor friend in London, who had heard dozens of recordings over the years. 

--Bruce

[Tsaraslondon]

I've never been much of a fan of Studer, but this recording has always had a good press. I should try and hear it.